All At Once
by Vahkhiin
Summary: There are certain people you just keep coming back to. As many times as he ran away, he always returned to her.


_**A/N: **Wow it's been a while since I've written. School is a killer, so much studying, it's madness. I'm sure a few of you would have thought that I have fallen off the face of the world, lol, but no, school had taken me over and consumed me. but i escaped and i wrote this. Hope I've still got my touch in writing, it's been a while. the sentences in italics are lyrics from the song All at once by The Fray.  
_

* * *

_There are certain people you just keep coming back to._ No matter how many times you walked away, you could never walk away for good, for your heart belonged there. As many times as he had gone and come back, the guilt in his heart grew more and more each day.

Forgiveness was all he wanted, love, would that be too much to ask?

"Oi, Tifa, one more pint ey?" his accent stayed relatively the same over the years. Even though he had spent his time around the normal versed people, that accent just would never change.

He was one of them, part of the team who wore the red ribbon in memory of two angels up above. They would fight together in every battle, along side each other.

"It is coming, be patient, geez," Tifa rolled her eyes and continued washing the dishes.

"Well ain't going ta wait till Christmas ya know," he muttered and rolled his eyes.

Girlish laughter and a set of thunderous footsteps caused his blue eyes to perk up. A boy and a girl, relatively the same age came running past him in a flash, laughing with smiles on their faces. Life was once filled with chaos long ago, but now it was different. There wasn't any chaos, only a peaceful world, and a hero that remained utterly lost in his own thoughts and regrets.

_She is right in front of you, _though yet he sits at the corner pondering on his thoughts.

He would watch her day in, day out. He would sit there and just watch her as the day went by. He would help her occasionally once in a while, but he could never leave again. That was something he could never do. He had to keep an eye on her, make sure that no one messed around. She was his only family, and those kids were much like his own. He was the man of the house, and the man who had fallen deeply in love with her.

Would she ever love him? Could she ever feel the same way he did? What if she already did? Was he wasting time away?

"Yo Tifa," he heard Cid saying. They thought he couldn't hear them, they were wrong, he could hear every word.

"Is somethin' wrong with him? He always quiet in that corner?" he heard Cid's quiet voice.

His blue eyes grew cold in that moment as his heart sank, he was the lonely man that could only think and never ask; just like he was long ago. That was all he was ever good for. He was a protector, and that was all, that was what he always would be.

"He sits there from time to time, just watching the people come in and out," he heard her answer. "It worries me to see him like that, and I try to get him to help out and he does, but it seems like he's always refusing to talk to me, I don't know why."

Refusing, to talk to her?

That wasn't what he wanted.

He loved her.

He needed her.

His eyes widen as he threw his glance out the window away from the door. She thought that he was ignoring her? Refusing to talk to her?

Maybe love wasn't cut out for him, maybe she wasn't the one. But who else would there be? There wasn't another one he could ever love.

_You begin to wonder could you find a better one_

There wasn't another that he felt close to like he did with her. He could never feel the warmth that he had with her with any body else. He had fallen in love. The last thing he thought he could ever do, and he did. He loved.

_  
Compared to her now she's in question  
_  
The vampire like man swept his coat along the floor as he sat himself down in the booth. His claw like hands crept up onto the table and sat there, tapping against the table.

"Cloud you still with us?"

The loud conversation that commenced at the bar left enough loudness for him to speak normally and without hesitation.

"I still haven't been forgiven," he spoke his mind.

"Yes I know, you never called," the vampire answered.

_Maybe you want her? _

"I think I have fallen," he replied and looked down at the table where his laced hands sat.

"Fallen?"

"I have fallen," he glanced his blue eyes over to her. He watched her talking to the rest of their friends, the way she laughed and her hair how it bounced back and forth. He watched her gestures as she talked and smiled lowly to himself.

_Maybe you need her? _

"Fallen in love.."

"I.."

_Maybe you started to compare to someone not there _

'..Aeris..'

'..Relax Cloud, what does your heart tell you?'

'I love..'

'I know who you love, why don't you start accepting it rather than pushing it away?'

'But I love you..'

'Do you really?..'

'I..'

_Maybe you want it maybe you need it _

'..I am not who you love Cloud, don't think, just feel..'

He saw the way she laughed, the way she would stand next to him in every battle. Her hair as the wind blew through it, he didn't love an angel, he loved his bestfriend.

'_..maybe it's all you're running from..' _

"Cloud.." Vincent called.

He blinked a few times and nodded. "I have fallen in love."

"I know."

"How do you..?" his blue eyes questioned.

The vampire smiled, "from the way you watch her, gentle and loving. Tell her Cloud."

_Perfection will not come _

"I don't know how."

_Looking for the right one you line up the world to find _

He had been to every corner and every battle, and there she stood by his side always.

"Yes you do."

"What if she doesn't feel the same?"

_Where no questions cross your mind_

"You won't know until you tell her."

His blue eyes glanced over at her.

_But, _

"_She won't keep on waiting for you without a doubt." _

"I.."

_Much longer for you to sort it out _

"Cloud, you okay, you've been staring outside that window since they all left," he felt her hand on his arm.

His eyes softened when it locked with hers.

"Tifa, I.." he looked up at her, his mouth slightly open. He didn't know what to say.

"You're leaving again aren't you?" he saw the hurt in her eyes.

"I…"

She let his arm go, "Take care Cloud."

She took his face in her hands and kissed his forehead. "Come back one day okay." He watched her turning and walking up the steps sadly.

Why couldn't he tell her? Why was it so hard to say those three words? He went after her.

_Maybe you want her, maybe you need her _

His footsteps echoed as he went up the steps, but he didn't care. The noise might awake the kids who were sleeping, but he didn't care.

He needed her

He wanted her

"Tifa," he knocked on her door.

No reply

"Tifa.." he said again.

No reply.

His heart fell. He gripped the handle and turned it. Stepping in he didn't see her, but the window was open. Nearing the window he looked out, and saw her sitting on the roof, watching the stars, her arms coiled around her knees.

He climbed up onto the roof and sat down beside her.

"Tifa.." he began.

She turned to him, her brown eyes watching him.

"I am not leaving," he told her.

He took her hand, "I wanted to tell you that I…."

"I love you."

_Maybe you had her maybe you lost her to another _

'yeah, I lost her.'

'but now I've found her again.'


End file.
